Theoretical and methodological foundations for studying the legitimacy of electoral processes in the digitalization era

The article presents an overview of classical concepts of the legitimacy of the electoral process in the context of digitalization of the socio-political sphere, considers various vectors of research based on the most common methodological approaches in modern political science. The paper determines simultaneous stability of their basic principles and the possibility of fine-tuning for the aim of practical application for the study of current political phenomena generated by the digital era, including online voting and other technologies that expand the possibilities of expression of the will of citizens.